Government to act tough on social media abusers
Manama : The Interior Ministry has announced stringent measures to curb the increasing misuse of social media, in the wake of abuse in recent months.
“Tough steps” would be taken to deal with unprecedented chaos created by disruptive social media accounts, said Interior Minister Lieutenant General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa yesterday in a statement, confirming the move.
The minister’s statements, which were released through the Police Media Centre, referred to a number of accounts on social media networks that are spreading defamatory messages against the citizens and leadership of the Kingdom, since they appeared mainly on Twitter, in the past few weeks. “Such accounts spread malicious rumours that went against social harmony and civil peace. Security authorities would tackle any offence against national and traditional values,” said Shaikh Rashid.
“It had been proved they were operated through malicious websites and had no links with the Royal Court or any other official organisation in Bahrain,” the minister said, denying rumours that these accounts were supported by the Royal Court.
“The Royal Court was an official authority that functioned to implement the directives of His Majesty the King in regard of supervising all constitutional organisations in the Kingdom to ensure they followed constitutional provisions in the best interests of the nation and its citizens. Thus, it is above any cyber activity against the norms and traditions of Bahrain whereas those accounts are destructive and not constructive,” Shaikh Rashid clarified.
Fight abusers of social media: Shaikh Khalid
Lt. Gen.Shaikh Rashid confirmed that those accounts were monitored since they relied on inaccurate information about individuals and organisations, and were against the interests of the internal front.
“The operators of some of those accounts were identified and others would continue to be pursued. We won’t be far from tracking them down and taking legal action against them even if we need to draft new legislations to tackle the latest developments in such crimes with their negative effects on members of society and the national fabric,” Lt. Gen.Shaikh Rashid said.
“There would be a follow-up and steps would be taken to make them accountable in accordance with the law to stop their violations and misuse of the social media,” he said.
“It was unfortunate that the social media had been turned into a place to spread sedition and rumours rather than to strengthen community bonds,” the minister expressed while asking citizens to “ignore malicious social media accounts and their abusive rumours and claims against Arab and Islamic traditions” and stressed the need to obtain information from official sources.
Unfortunate
Sharing a similar view, Foreign Affairs Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, who has been rewarded as one of the most active officials on social media in the Arab World, tweeted, “It is unfortunate that social media networks became a platform for enemies who post abuses, absurdities and false claims that our leadership and Bahrain are above.”
Shaikh Khalid, who’s followed by over 490, 000 Twitter users, reposted the Interior Minister’s statement on his page.
“Bahraini social media users have proven their love to their leadership and country in all situations. And they have to stand in line to block each abuser who promotes lies and sedition,” said Shaikh Khalid.
Such social media accounts have been the talk of the town lately, with many of the main social media activists and influencers in the Kingdom calling them “The Twitter Mafia.
Additionally, the Prime Minister HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa mentioned in his weekly meetings with citizens (Majlises) that the government will show zero tolerance to such social media networks abusers.
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